This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Crimes of Thomas Brewster

This is... actually really good. I certainly didn't expect it to be because while I didn't mind The Claws of Axos it was definitely one of the weaker stories of Season 8. Still, Axos in particular had a lot of potential there and I'd say this story has fully realised it. I think one of the biggest helps is the voice of Axos, Bernard Holley. He's definitely up there as one of my favourite Doctor Who villain voices next to Gabriel Woolf as Sutekh after this. I also think Axos was limited by the scope and budget of Classic Doctor Who. Being an audio story this gets to lean into all the cool concepts of it being one giant, living entity made of body parts and tendrils and stuff like that. It really paints a cool image in your head.

The story itself was quite strong, it had really solid characterisation and performances from all the main cast. I think Brewster brings it down a little with his constant betraying of the Doctor. It reminds me a lot of how Adric was characterised in Season 19 which isn't exactly a good thing. All those slight issues with the story are made up for by one particular scene which I thought was just fantastic. The one where Evelyn accidentally unhooks herself from the ship during an EVA and she slowly drifts off into space. That was genuinely horrifying and the performances absolutely sold it.

Overall, very good story. Bit messy in the middle but not enough to take away from my enjoyment whatsoever.

Next Story: Industrial Evolution